Debate and deliberate

In this section you will see regular contributions from senior representatives from the industry, presenting the most innovative thinking in the field of Welfare to Work. This is a space where you are encouraged to publish your comments as experts and debate the key issues. What are you waiting for?

Workfare’s fair? Community Work for the Long-Term Unemployed

Submitted by Helen Crowther on Wed, 21/12/2011 - 2:30pm

Written by Tony Wilson, Director of Policy at Inclusion.

 

You may have spotted the Prime Minister’s announcement last month of “Community Work for the Long-Term Unemployed”.  In four areas, DWP are going to test the impact of requiring people who have been on Jobseeker’s Allowance for more than two years to do community work for thirty hours a week for up to six months – “ahead of a nationwide rollout in 2013.”

Is there evidence that attitudes to work are declining?

Submitted by amielouisewilliams on Thu, 28/07/2011 - 9:32am

Peter Deaves, Acting Head of Policy at the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion, explores this issue in more detail.

A recent report[1]by the Centre for Social Justice think tank claims that the major barrier to tackling Britain’s jobless crisis is ‘poor work attitudes’ amongst young people and the long-term unemployed. A survey of employers they carried out indicated that 62 per cent of employers cite poor work attitude and ethic as the reason why they turn down applications for entry-level jobs.[2]This repeats a common claim by employer groups about poor employability, particularly amongst school-leavers.

Welfare quarantining: safeguarding children or welfare reform by stealth?

Submitted by amielouisewilliams on Fri, 13/05/2011 - 8:04am

Inclusion’s Australia associate, Emily Crawford, writes for Indus Delta about the Australian policy known as Welfare Quarantining. In essence, this is a controversial policy which seeks to control Aboriginal Australians' use of their welfare benefits.  It was introduced in the Northern Territory in 2007.

A controversial policy controlling Aboriginal Australians' use of their welfare benefits was introduced in the Northern Territory in 2007. As part of a wider response to extreme social issues in Aboriginal communities, the income management policy quarantines 50% of Indigenous claimants' benefits, restricting those monies to be spent on priority items such as food, rent and utility bills under the supervision of Centrelink, the government social security agency.  The goal of income management is to improve child health and wellbeing and reduce abuse and family violence, largely caused by abuse of alcohol, by restricting individuals' ability to spend benefits on harmful items and increasing the amount spent on daily necessities.

In-work benefits and Universal Credit: is there a crystal ball – and would people want one?

Submitted by amielouisewilliams on Tue, 04/01/2011 - 1:50pm

Gareth Morgan, of Ferret Information Systems, examines the effects of the changes to the UK benefits system following the emergency budget, the Spending Review and the White Paper, Universal Credit: welfare that works.

Amy Tarr wrote a perceptive  article in the December 2010 edition of Working Brief, Universal Credit: wanted, a clearer idea of its impact.  In it she made the point that "if the Universal Credit is to represent a genuine improvement in work incentives compared to the existing system we need assurances that existing benefit levels are being used as the comparator".

But what if there aren’t any jobs for people to take?

Submitted by amielouisewilliams on Thu, 04/11/2010 - 10:56am

Managing Director of Serco Welfare to Work, Richard Johnson, warns against the common misconception that there are currently no jobs out there and advises welfare to work service providers on how to be interventional and effective, despite the current economic conditions.

How can you have a swing towards outcome-based funding of welfare-to-work services when there is simply no work for people to do? Surely there is a fixed level of opportunity in the labour market and if this is squeezed by a contracting economy, at the same time that the dole queue is lengthened by public sector cuts, then there just won’t be any outcomes to get? How can the Work Programme possibly succeed when there are no jobs out there?

Childcare costs – a ticking time bomb for the coalition?

Submitted by Pippa Lane on Thu, 30/09/2010 - 1:58pm

Inclusion researcher, Pippa Lane, delves deeper into the flexible working debate and does the sums on affordable childcare.

I wrote recently about the role of flexible work in providing a piece of the family friendly labour market puzzle.  Another key piece is affordable childcare.  We know that the cost of childcare in the UK is a barrier to employment and that heavily subsidised, low cost childcare available in much of Europe – particularly Scandinavia – allows parents (particularly women) to more easily return to work.[1]  But arguing for Scandinavian style subsidy amidst planned cuts to public spending of 25-40% is unlikely to be successful.  A more useful comparison might be with other English speaking members of the OECD with liberal welfare regimes similar to the UK. 

The dawn of a new age of flexible work?

Submitted by Pippa Lane on Wed, 15/09/2010 - 11:11am

As the recession has hit Britain the overall number of jobs in the economy has fallen, however, the number of part time jobs has sharply increased.  Between March 2007 and March 2010 the number of people working in part time jobs rose by more than a quarter of a million. Inclusion researcher, Pippa Lane, debates whether we are about to see the dawn of a new age of flexible work?

For many years, researchers and campaigners have been arguing for an increase in the availability of part time jobs as a way for families to balance work and family responsibilities.  In large part, this is due to the high cost and low public subsidy of childcare that makes full time work for both parents difficult for many families to manage.  Part time jobs – particularly those that allow parents to provide care for their children out of school hours – help families to manage their budgets. This is through a reduction in childcare costs and through increased earnings and the longer term financial benefits of maintaining contact with the labour market, such as career progression.  For parents who have been out of the labour market for many years, there is some evidence that ‘mini-jobs’ (jobs of less than 16 hours per week) have the potential to act as stepping stones back into work.

The Lost Generation of the Big Society: Time for a Real Deal not a New Deal - Dr. Richard WIlliams CEO Rathbone

Submitted by amielouisewilliams on Fri, 20/08/2010 - 9:24am

This week, Dr Richard Williams, CEO of Rathbone, contributes to Indus Delta's Debate and Deliberate series.  In this article, Dr Williams argues that investment in experience needs to be at the centre of policies aimed at tackling youth unemployment. He maintains that the structural changes in the labour market have led to persistent youth unemployment and government approaches to tackling this, which focus on investment in, too often, "worthless" qualifications, have been wrong-footed and failed to improve the employment prospects of many of the young people who undertake them.

Structuring the Work Programme to change society: Serco's Richard Johnson debates and deliberates

Submitted by amielouisewilliams on Tue, 17/08/2010 - 12:50pm

Managing Director of Serco Welfare to Work, Richard Johnson, writes for Indus Delta's Debate and Delibrate section.  Examining the structure of the Work Programme, Richard argues that it will require a two-tier contracting infrastructure. He maintains that it will be absolutely crucial that the distinctions between the roles and capabilities of organisations in the different tiers are understood if the Work Programme is to be procured appropriately and delivered effectively.

ippr Learning Exchange to New York – Summary of Findings

Submitted by amielouisewilliams on Thu, 05/08/2010 - 12:01pm

In June 2010, as part of its innovative project, Now it's Personal, ippr offered an opportunity for policymakers and practitioners to visit New York City (NYC) to facilitate learning and exchange of best practice between US and UK providers, advisers and policymakers. Delegates came together to learn from the US approach to welfare and to think creatively about new ways of responding to the current challenges in the UK.

Here we set out some of the findings from the exchange. This article explores the roles of the main bodies working to reduce welfare dependency in NYC, ranging from the large prime providers contracting out welfare to work services, to the not-for-profit organisations serving particular communities in the city. The concluding section identifies some key areas for the UK to draw on from the approach to welfare to work in New York.